Quickly improve your resume with these 5 simple tips!
A resume is a quick snapshot of a candidate, including details of work experience, education, community involvement, skills, interests, and more. The areas included on a resume correspond with the goal of the resume. Of course, the content is vital to a successful resume but formatting can make or break an opportunity. Many jobs, internships, and programs will throw a resume away simply due to poor formatting. Once you have the content for your resume, the organization and format can perfect your resume. The following tips are easy first steps in the right direction to having a great resume.
ONE PAGE
This is one of the first basic rules I learned when creating my resume. The day that you change your resume from multiple pages, is the day that your resume matures.
There are people who will throw out a resume simply because it isn’t one page. Exceptions do exist. Some programs may indicate they do not have a page number preference if you have enough relevant content. A CV tends to be longer resume and includes all of a candidate’s relevant experience. For young professionals, one page is typically the rule of thumb unless asked otherwise.
Remember, a resume is a quick snapshot.
From the author: I used this resume format for majority of my college career. It encompasses my education and most of my major involvements. As I gained more experience, it became harder to keep it one page. For jobs, I will likely cut out what I think is unnecessary and expand on the more important opportunities. When speaking with a law school admissions officer, I did get the go ahead to extend my bullet points and go beyond a page. This is one of those scenarios where there is enough relevant content to justify it. However, when I interned in DC, I was repeatedly told do not go beyond a page or it would be thrown out all together. Moral of the story is to be flexible and read the room.
SPELL CHECK
This generation is blessed with spelling and grammar checks. Use them. This is especially important if you are applying to a position in which writing skills are vital. If you realize you submitted a resume with an error, it isn’t the end of the world. However, there are numerous means to avoid this as much as possible. I use Word Review, Grammarly, and have a friend double-check before submitting a resume. Grammarly can be easily added as an extension to Google Chrome.
ACTION WORDS
Each bullet point on your resume should start with an action verb such as managed, coordinated, developed, researched, etc. Action words highlight was you did and accomplished.
Do not write full sentences beginning with a pronoun.
The person reading resumes, especially for competitive opportunities, will skim quickly down the page and will not take the time to stumble through a variety of sentence structures. Many recruiters/hiring managers/supervisors are trained to look for action words at the beginning of each point.
The following is an example of action words;
ORGANIZATION
There are many ways to organize the sections and subsections in your resume and the right way depends on you, your goals, and the particular opportunity. However, there are definitely organizational options to avoid.
Do’s and Don’ts
Do put your name and contact information at the top of the resume.
Do include subsections for relevant experience (i.e. Education, Work Experience, Skills, Leadership Experience).
Don’t have too much white space, no structure, and an unclear order.
Don’t squeeze in every experience if it is not relevant. Too many words can clutter the page.
A point on creative resumes:
The appropriate structure of a resume will depend on the specific opportunity along with the professional environment and expectations. I love the look of creative resumes. However, as someone pursuing a career in the legal profession, I decided that a simple resume, like the one above, is most appropriate for my professional pursuits. A simple black-and-white resume is a safe bet for a professionally structured and organized resume and is expected by most professions. Creative resumes, like those on Canva, have become more popular over the past years and can also be deemed appropriate, particularly for creative jobs or opportunities. We may also see a shift into more creative resumes as generations shift. If you are unsure if a creative resume fits the professional environment and expectations of a certain application, it is best to be cautious and use a classic resume.
KEEP A RUNNING DOCUMENT
This is the best piece of resume advice that I can provide.
Once you begin to build up your resume, you won’t use all of the experiences for every resume you give out. Since you are only presenting a one-page snapshot of yourself, include the most relevant information. However, the things you include do not necessarily have to be directly correlated to the position, especially because skills can be shown through unrelated jobs. For example, skills obtained from serving at a restaurant can be utilized in an office job or leadership position on campus. I recommend keeping your running document in the same structure as your resume so all you have to do is simply copy and paste.
I use Word for my resumes. I have a broad resume template but also a running resume document. Whenever I make a new resume, I create a new document from my resume template, open my running resume document and copy and paste relevant experience from my running document.
To create a template on word: File > Save as Template. Whenever you open a document from the template it is a new document.
To use a Google Doc as a template: Open the document (“Resume Template”) > File > Make a Copy.
A well-written and well-formatted resume can increase your chances for an opportunity. However, if it is meant to be, it will be so don’t sweat the small stuff too much. Do what you can and follow your heart, that’s what will shine through.
